CM Palmisano 2040 Comp Plan Message

Message for Ward 13 Residents from CM Linea Palmisano:

Thank you for reaching out about the 2040 Comprehensive Plan Draft. As you likely know, this is an important step in creating high-level guidance as to how growth in our city will be evaluated as new projects come forward. Our city is growing- and is projected to continue to grow- and this document should guide how the changes coming at us can be accommodated to help be a healthy, sustainable, and thriving place to live.

Here is some background on the Draft Plan review process. The 2040 Comprehensive Plan Draft was released on March 22nd, kicking off a voluntary four month comment period, motivated by department determination to include resident feedback. By July 22, when the public comment period ends, City staff will have attended 100+ meetings, open houses, festivals, pop-up meetings, Ward meetings, neighborhood meetings, and other community gatherings, including our own on Wednesday, May 23 at Southwest High School (details below).

In addition to the voluntary public comment period that started on March 22nd , there is a concurrent review period that the City is statutorily required to hold, over a period of six months, during which neighboring cities may also submit comments.

When that period ends on September 22nd, the Comp Plan Draft will be presented to the Minneapolis City Planning Commission in late October, over five months from now, before it goes to the Planning Committee and finally the full Council. The Director of Long Range Planning has stated that during that part of the process there will be at least one public hearing and that testimony will be allowed both in writing and in person.

Some of you have been reaching out regarding a requested extension to the deadline for the Minneapolis 2040 Comprehensive Plan. After a thorough dive into the steps the City has taken since the process began in 2016, I do not support this request, but I do hear and understand this protest. We need your involvement this year.

One of my biggest concerns is how do we involve you best in the conversation? I’ve been confronting my own biases as I work my way through the document and have been listening deeply to feedback and I simply encourage everyone to continue to provide feedback and suggest changes.

There are pieces of this plan that I struggle with greatly. There are solutions here that I don’t think will move the needle on housing affordability in our city, and things that I don’t think will help us toward the plan’s goals we originally set forth to achieve. I think we have the goals right. But, I’m less certain and am working to scrutinize the challenging task that our Long Range Planning department drafted in putting those goals into a plan.

I appreciate your engagement in this process. As you are sending comments on this plan to my office, please make sure that you are also submitting those comments directly to the Minneapolis Long Range Planning team working on the draft plan as well. Throughout the website you will see green dialogue boxes where you can submit comments. Additionally, you can email 2040@minneapolismn.gov.

I encourage the 13th Ward to submit as many comments and cover every topic that residents are interested in. I have been in conversations with the Director of Long Range Planning where she indicated that feedback is being read and that we will see a sneak peek of those updates in the next month and then a full synopsis of those comments in August. That final synopsis will be released along with the full updated version of the Draft Plan which will be guided by those comments. By sharing your comments, with both Long Range Planning and our office, you can help me make certain that her promise is being kept. If I do not see that feedback reflected in the update then I can take the appropriate actions to make make certain your voices don’t go unheard, but I ask your feedback to do so. I will gladly continue to take feedback into the fall.

I hope you will join us May 23rd at 7pm at Southwest High School to voice your opinions and learn more about the plan from Heather Worthington, Director of Long Range Planning. If you are not able to join us on the 23rd, please consider attending one of the remaining events the city is hosting between now and May 31st.

Palmisano Presents: Comprehensive Plan with Director of Long Range Planning

Wednesday, May 23rd7pm-8:30pm
Southwest High School – Commons Area (immediately through doors #1 and #15)
Agenda Survey: click here!

Southwest Parks WorkshopJanuary 31, 2019 at 6:00 pm – 8:00 pmLynnhurst Recreation Center, 1345 W Minnehaha Pkwy, Minneapolis, MN 55419, USAThe Minneapolis Parks and Recreation project team has been working to refine initial concepts for the neighborhood parks in southwest Minneapolis. The concepts will be available for people to comment on at one of four workshops. People attending these workshops can review design ideas for all SW parks, talk with project staff & committee members,…